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50 free Paddington Bear trivia questions with answers — literature quiz, new questions added Aug 2026.
Paddington arrived at a London station with a label round his neck and has been getting politely into trouble ever since. Michael Bond's bear has outgrown the books: there are cartoons from three decades, three live-action films, a West End musical, a bronze at the station that named him, and a cup of tea with the Queen that the whole country watched. These 50 questions go past the marmalade. They cover how the stories began and who drew them, the voices behind the TV series, the casts, villains and behind-the-scenes stories of the films, and the odd places Paddington has turned up, from parade balloons to coins. The quiz suits families, classrooms and anyone who grew up with a duffel coat and a suitcase. Each answer comes with a short explanation, so you learn something even when you guess.
30 of 50 questions with answers and explanations. Play the quiz
Q 01Which future head of state voiced Paddington in the Ukrainian dub of the first two films?
Volodymyr Zelensky
Volodymyr Zelensky, then a comedian, voiced Paddington in the Ukrainian dubs of Paddington and Paddington 2, years before he became Ukraine's president.
Q 02Which Queen hit did Paddington and Elizabeth II tap their teacups to at her Platinum Jubilee concert?
"We Will Rock You"
"We Will Rock You" was then played live outside the palace by Queen + Adam Lambert, and in the sketch the Queen revealed she keeps a marmalade sandwich in her bag for emergencies.
Q 03Which Top Gear presenter's mother made the first Paddington toy, adding Wellington boots so it stood up?
Jeremy Clarkson
Jeremy Clarkson's parents Shirley and Eddie ran Gabrielle Designs, whose prototype bear was a Christmas present for Jeremy and his sister Joanna before Michael Bond granted them the toy rights.
Q 04Which Rocky Horror star voiced the Browns' grumpy neighbour in the 1989 Paddington cartoon?
Tim Curry
Tim Curry voiced Mr Curry, the neighbour who addresses Paddington simply as "Bear!", in a series that cast Charlie Adler as the bear himself.
Q 05Paddington 2 became the most-reviewed film ever to hold a perfect 100% score on which review site?
Rotten Tomatoes
Rotten Tomatoes counted 164 positive reviews and none negative for Paddington 2 in January 2018, beating Toy Story 2's record of 163.
Q 06Like the Queen, Paddington celebrates two birthdays a year; which date pairs with 25 December?
25 June
25 June and 25 December are both Paddington's birthdays: when the Browns found him they decided, like the Queen, he should celebrate twice a year.
Q 07Who plays Phoenix Buchanan, the faded West End star reduced to dog-food adverts, in Paddington 2?
Hugh Grant
Hugh Grant earned a BAFTA nomination for Best Supporting Actor as the master of disguise, and he sings Sondheim's "Rain on the Roof" over the end credits.
Q 08Which Oscar winner plays Millicent Clyde, the taxidermist who hunts Paddington in the 2014 film?
Nicole Kidman
Nicole Kidman also designed a gold Paddington statue for the 2014 Paddington Trail, one of fifty placed around London and auctioned for a children's charity.
Q 09Which actor, Q in the James Bond film Skyfall, has voiced Paddington in all three live-action films?
Ben Whishaw
Ben Whishaw took the role late: another actor had already recorded Paddington before withdrawing months before release, so Whishaw joined in post-production.
Q 10Which British retailer's 2017 Christmas advert had Paddington mistake a burglar for Father Christmas?
Marks & Spencer
Marks & Spencer's advert had Paddington help the thief, whom he takes for Santa, return every stolen gift to its rightful owner.
Q 11Which Paddington habit, taught by Aunt Lucy, leaves rude people flushed and embarrassed?
A hard stare
A hard stare is Paddington's only weapon: he is unfailingly polite, calling people Mr, Mrs and Miss, so the stare is what he saves for anyone who forgets their manners.
Q 12At which fictional London address near Notting Hill do the Browns give Paddington a home?
32 Windsor Gardens
32 Windsor Gardens is invented: a real Windsor Gardens exists between Notting Hill and Maida Vale, but it looks nothing like the Browns' street.
Q 13At which London street market is Paddington respected by shopkeepers for driving a shrewd bargain?
Portobello Road
Q 21Paddington station's bronze bear under the clock copies which original illustrator's artwork?
Peggy Fortnum
Peggy Fortnum drew the first edition in 1958 in black-and-white pen and ink, and one of her Paddington pictures became a Royal Mail first-class stamp in 2006.
Q 22Which creator of Mr Benn and Elmer the Patchwork Elephant also illustrated later Paddington books?
David McKee
David McKee is one of several artists who took over the Paddington books after the original illustrator, alongside R. W. Alley and others.
Q 23Which actor narrated the 1976 BBC stop-motion Paddington and voiced every character himself?
Michael Hordern
Portobello Road is Paddington's patch: he shops there almost daily, and the market sits a short walk from the Browns' house.
Q 14Which Hungarian-born antique dealer shares elevenses with Paddington every day in Michael Bond's books?
Mr Gruber
Mr Gruber, like Paddington, is an immigrant who made London home, and scholars read their friendship as the heart of the books' kindness to newcomers.
Q 15Which relative gave Paddington the battered old hat he wears in Michael Bond's stories?
Uncle Pastuzo
Uncle Pastuzo gave Paddington his hat; in the 2014 film the hat came first from a British explorer, and its stamp is the clue Paddington follows across London.
Q 16Aunt Lucy sends Paddington to London after moving into the Home for Retired Bears in which city?
Lima
Lima, Peru's capital, is where Aunt Lucy retires after an earthquake destroys the bears' home, which is why Paddington stows away to London alone.
Q 17What are the names of the two Brown children who share a house with Paddington in the books?
Judy and Jonathan
Judy and Jonathan Brown swap ages between adaptations: Judy is the elder in the films and the 1976 series, Jonathan in the 1989 and 1997 cartoons.
Q 18Michael Bond, then a BBC cameraman, wrote the whole first Paddington book in how long?
Ten days
Ten days was all it took: Bond began the story as a hobby, and A Bear Called Paddington reached shops in October 1958.
Q 19Michael Bond's other children's series starred Olga da Polga, named after the family's pet what?
A guinea pig
A guinea pig called Olga da Polga got her own series from 1971, and Bond also wrote Monsieur Pamplemousse food mysteries for grown-ups.
Q 20In which canal-side London district did Michael Bond live, close to the station that named his bear?
Little Venice
Little Venice put Bond within a short walk of Paddington station, the place that inspired many of his books; he died at home in 2017, aged 91.
Michael Hordern, best known for his Shakespearean roles, supplied every voice in the series, whose scripts Michael Bond wrote himself.
Q 24Which animator, also behind The Wombles and Postman Pat, directed the 1976 FilmFair Paddington series?
Ivor Wood
Ivor Wood had animated The Magic Roundabout in France before joining FilmFair, and his Paddington was a 3D puppet moving through sparse line-drawn sets.
Q 25In the 1976 BBC series, how were the Browns and the other characters shown alongside the Paddington puppet?
As flat 2D drawings
As flat 2D drawings, the rest of the cast stayed on paper, and in one scene a marmalade jar turns 3D as soon as Paddington touches it.
Q 26Which American studio made the 1989 Paddington cartoon that added an American cousin named David?
Hanna-Barbera
Hanna-Barbera co-produced it with Britain's Central Independent Television, making it the first Paddington series from a North American company.
Q 27Which US kids' network co-made the 2019 cartoon The Adventures of Paddington with StudioCanal?
Nickelodeon
Nickelodeon and a British animation studio kept the films' voice of Paddington, and the series debuted on 20 December 2019 as a spin-off of the live-action movies.
Q 28Who gave Paddington his first TV outing, reading the stories on the BBC's Jackanory in 1966?
Thora Hird
Thora Hird read The Adventures of Paddington Bear over five afternoons, and not one of those 15-minute episodes survives in the BBC archive.
Q 29Which QI host won a 2008 Audie Award in the US for reading the Paddington audiobook More About Paddington?
Stephen Fry
Stephen Fry's reading of Bond's 1959 sequel took the Audio Publishers Association's Young Listeners' Title, one of several Paddington books he has recorded.
Q 30Who wrote and directed the first two Paddington films before handing the third to a new director?
Paul King
Paul King co-wrote Paddington 2 with Simon Farnaby, and the sequel is dedicated to Michael Bond, who died in 2017, the year it came out.